What is transshipment?

The largest container ships call at only a handful of ports on each voyage. Everywhere else is reached by connection: a smaller feeder vessel brings the box to a hub such as Singapore, Rotterdam or Algeciras, or carries it onward from there. The guide to container ship sizes shows how far apart the two kinds of ship are.

The line plans the connection when it accepts the booking. At the hub the container is lifted off the first ship, stacked in the yard and lifted onto the second. It stays inside the terminal throughout, and the same bill of lading covers the whole journey; the shipper and the consignee have nothing to do at the hub.

The routing is on the booking confirmation or the line’s schedule, which name the transshipment port and, when it is known, the second vessel. On the tracker you see “discharged” at a port that is not your destination, and later “loaded” again with a different ship and voyage number.

After the transfer, track by bill of lading number where the line allows it: on some lines the container view lags behind the shipment view while the box waits at the hub. If you follow ships on a map, switch to the new vessel’s name, because the first ship sails on without your container.

A box can sit at the hub for days between its discharge and the connecting load, and no event is published in between. This is where tracking most often appears to stall. Nothing is wrong; there is simply nothing to report until a crane moves the container again. The tracking guide lists the real causes of an empty result, and a wait at a hub is not among them.

What deserves attention is the date. Transshipment is the most common place for a delay, because a late first ship can miss the connection and the box then waits for the next sailing. An arrival date issued before the transfer is a schedule and not a promise. Check it again once the second “loaded” event appears, and only then fix the truck and the customs entry at destination.